You pay a premium to be one of the first people to get a certain piece of technology.

Get over yourselves already, damn it.

I completely understand why people are upset about this, but c'mon it's technology! You pay for the novelty of having a new gadget immediately, knowing that eventually it will come down in price. Remember the days of $500 Motorola Razr's?

"I'm in the tech industry"

Working at Best Buy doesn't count... douchenozzle

Wow, what a bunch of whiners. The price you pay to have the latest and greatest is having to deal with quick price depreciation. Sick and tired of the whiners.

Eh. What the hell were you doing buying the thing first-gen anyway? I completely understand the outrage, but this is how Apple has always rolled. I also sympathize - I have done the exact same thing...last year, even. My 17" MBP was, 6 weeks after I purchased it, 44% slower than the Core 2 Duo models they put out. It happens, and you learn from it. Its not like the internet isn't covered with stories just like yours.

Jobs was right in his letter and response...everything gets old eventually, and things change. You wait forever, you get nothing ever.

The $100 store credit is worthless to you, but I know many people who will continue to buy Mac stuff, and the majority of coverage I've seen see it as a healthy compromise, considering they could have just told you to stuff it.

I guarantee any other computer company would have.

Uh oh, somebody better call the waaaaaaaaambulance.

Look if the prices on these STAYED high or even went up, these same early adopters who defied every warning prices would fall would be GLOATING and CROWING about how they were ahead of the curve and SMART shoppers.

Awwwwwwwww, poor babies

Sometimes it doesn't pay to be an early adopter. Suck it up and move on. Seriously, he paid over $600 for a phone ($599 + tax). I've bought a ton of stuff that dropped in price soon after I bought it. But I justified the original purchase price in my mind, so I end up happy no matter how much it dropped. Obviously he was fine at the time paying that much for a new phone and being locked into a 2-year contract.

My last phone was free.

I think if someone bought an iPhone at the original cost and then had to show someone their receipt at the door after they bought it, this website would explode.

If I buy a car, and then 2 months later the car maker has a rebate, I don't go and cry cause I didn't get it.

Boo hoo.

Oh everyone needs to man up & stop their whining, because guess what? He didn't HAVE to give you anything. If I were Steve Jobs, I would be sitting in my office right now laughing at all the fools that paid that much to begin with, congratulating myself on shafting people not only with the price but by forcing them into a contract with AT&T, with my phone off the hook and my secretary deleting my emails, and laughing like this -
"BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA"

Apple fanboys are idiots. Apple decided to be nice and TRY to give something back. Fanboys need to realize that they are not entitled to do anything, they could have just given them nothing.

I'd like cash for free too, you agreed to pay $600 for an iPhone Apple doesn't owe you shit now that they dropped the price.

I don't believe anyone who claims to be "so totally done with Apple. I mean, seriously." over this. You bought that overpriced phone while the world laughed at you, and now we're still laughing and you're finally in on the joke.

Fine, Give me your $100 credit. I'd love to use it.

It can go toward the iPhone I am about to purchase.

BTW, If Apple drops the price next month, I'll say: "Oh well that's what I get for being in the 'tech industry.'"

As my roommate put it, everyone who rushed to buy the iPhone was essentially charged a $200 Jackass Tax.

I understand why people are mad, but seriously, you paid the price you were willing to pay. Now it's cheaper. And any claim that a massive price drop "destroys the brand" is just silly.

Just wait till they come out with a 16GB 3G enabled version for 499 before Christmas and the whining will be so loud your ears will bleed

Apple Fanboys are just that, Fanboys. Guess who will be first in line when the 16 GB iPhones come out?

OH SHUT THE FUCK UP!

Done. Okay, guess what, you bought too early? Get over it, that's what happens with new technology. It's a mixed market at its finest. Aww... were you planning on selling your phone right now anyway? No? so fuck you, you've lost nothing! You're phone still has the same worth to you.

I doubt Dell would have ever given a $100 reimbursement.

@public enemy #1: bahaahhaha. Touché.

Unbelievable. This whole episode should convince Apple and other companies not to lower their prices so much or so quickly. Nice work, assholes.

If someone wants to be the first kid on their block with the newest toys, they're going to pay a premium for that.

They need to just suck it up, and write off the price difference they paid as impatience tax and think about waiting a little while the next time.

@y2julio: Its not Apple Fanboi's. As a Apple user for years now, I know full well to

1) NEVER buy a 1st gen Apple product, or any companies 1st gen anything for that matter.

2) Expect the price to drop within 2-6 months.

3) Never buy a product when a "announcement" is coming.

I'm sure most Apple users know this too, so really its only the idiots who get their panties in a bunch.

I bought some stock a few weeks ago and due to market pressures, people are now buying it for 1/3 less. Can I have my money back, too??

Most of the people that bought the iPhone first gen and at that high price are most likely fanboys, which means they WILL spend the $100 credit. Just be happy you got something and quit your whining. Someone yesterday said it best - you bought it at $600 because it was worth it to you at that price, so be glad you're getting something back.

@yahonza: So you preffer a company to have a slump in sales due to the low demand and high price of the product instead of doing something to increase sales like for example lowering the cost of the product to match the product demand just so that little johnny can feel "special" ?? hahahaha you fanboys are funny.

@Falconfire: There is a difference between Apple user and Apple Fanboy. My comment applies to the Apple Fanboy base. Not to the user base that actually THINKS.

I just talked to the one person I know who has an iPhone (who was not an Apple person prior to buying it) and asked him, jokingly, how it felt for the price to have dropped $200 bucks in a month. His response: "I love the phone. I would have paid $200 more." The fact that they're offering an Apple rebate was just icing to him.

To all the whiners, it was worth the $599 to you when you bought it. You made the decision to purchase it at that price. So quit your whining already. Every single freaking article I read on the iPhone prior to its release had the same bottom line - it's a great phone, but you should really wait to buy it. You chose not to because you had to be first. Get over it already.

Can we please stop with the "I screwed up and I demand that Apple give me money for my impulsive buying tendancies" articles? Every third article on Consumerist is about this, and given that the fairly uniform response from commentors is "Sorry you're upset, but tough noogies. Apple doesn't owe you anything," I don't know that another story about an aggrieved, self-righteous whiner is either newsworthy or advancing the discussion.

This makes me love Apple more than I ever have.

They do the right thing by throwing a little money to the early adopter folks who, while I appreciate them and love the fact that they are always so willing to pay to be the first to work all of the kinks out of product that I intend to buy in subsequent generations, are acting like this is a travesty along the lines of Darfur or worthy of a 20/20 segment.

$200 in this case is either a Jackass Tax, a LOOKATME Tax, or a Hey-I-Understand-This-Is-The-First-Generation-of-a-Highly-Innovative-Product-and-I-Want-To-Be-One-of-the-First-to-Own-It-But-I-Fully-Realize-the-Price-Could-Drop-at-Any-Moment-as-New-Models-are-Rolled-Out-So-When-That-Happens-I'm-Just-Going-to-Roll-with-It.

I remember back when I was a kid and my parents bought my brother and I an Atari (later known as Atari 2600). My dad's friend was livid that he had bought the same console just two months earlier for his girls and it cost him about twice as much.

I think people that are complaining because Apple dropped the price of the iPhone after they bought one need to suck it up.

Everyone knew that the prices would drop. The price of every consumer electronic drops. These folks were in a mad dash to spend their money and be the first ones to have the cool new toy. They were more than willing to spend their money and now they're upset because other people are going to get it for less.

It is absolutely ridiculous. The fact that Apple is willing to give them anything at all is really such an amazing peace offering in today's customer service world.

What's the difference whether the price drops 2 months or 6 months after the launch? Would 4 months really make you feel that much better? Consumers purchased the product for the value they placed on the item at the time it was released. If you felt it was worth $599 two months ago, how come suddenly it's no longer as valuable to you? If it was never worth $599 to you, then why did you buy one?

I would encourage people who are upset to just be content that they were able to buy such an awesome piece of technology right when it hit the market. You didn't pay $599. for a fancy phone, you paid it to be a part of something exclusive.

I must respectfully disagree Marco - Matt has no point. Apple offered him a product at X price. He decided (which assumes he thought about it, though the whining implies he did not) that it was worth X price and bought it. End of story. I doesn't matter if they start giving them away a month later.

Intelligent, thoughtful, thrifty consumers (the type of consumers Consumerist should be attempting to create more of) don't assume a product is worth the amount a company sells it for. It's worth what the consumer is willing to pay for it. Matt apparently thought the iPhone was worth $600. Now b/c it's offered for less, it's not worth that? I respectfully posit that Matt never thought about what the iPhone was really worth to him, merely simply decided he wanted it. And that's not the consumer attitude that the Consumerist should be promoting.

@HeyThereKiller:
I like that (well, except for the douchenozzle part).

@y2julio:
Boy did you take me the wrong way. In fact, I can't even understand how you could get what I said so completely wrong.

"Unbelievable. This whole episode should convince Apple and other companies not to lower their prices so much or so quickly. Nice work, assholes."

You took that as I don't want Apple to lower prices? You took that to mean I was on the side of the whiners? NO, they are the assholes.

Here, I'll address your concerns.

Grow the fuck up, you whiny bitch.

You paid GOING MARKET VALUE for an item, meaning that you viewed its price as a FAIR INVESTMENT FOR ITS ADDED VALUE to your life. And.... nothing's changed. The iPhone is still the same iphone. Yes, the price dropped - it happens. It sucks when you're the one with egg on your face, but guess what? it happens to all of us. Happened to a friend of mine who bought the same motorcycle i did 4 months before me. Paid an extra $2,000. He was upset I got a better deal, but then again.... HE GOT TO PLAY ON THE MOTORCYCLE FOR AN EXTRA 4 MONTHS. So in the end, he was kinda OK with it, as he'd have rather had it for an extra 4 months and paid the penalty than be without it, as I was.

I bought the first gen 1.67GHZ PowerBooks a few months before the new revisions came out with better screens & faster memory. I slapped my head because it would have been nice to have had for the same price, BUT, I needed/wanted the machine when I DID buy it, and figured at the time that the price justified the value added. And though the market changed and newer & better came out, that DID NOT make my purchase any less valid. Yes a part of that sucks, I admit, but it's called LIFE. I could have waited, but chose not to. I didn't write a letter to steve jobs, entitled "please don't change your laptop specs, because I just bought one and I don't want my butt to hurt."

and that's the thing; you DO pay the price to be an early adopter. Whether it's missing features in V1.0 hardware, or footing the bill for R&D, or usually BOTH, the thing is, you paid more! BUT, you got something that people saving $200 can NEVER HAVE, EVER, which is the opportunity to have THE COOLEST NEW GEEK TOY EVER sooner than everyone else.

So really, just grow the fuck up and enjoy your new toy.

All of you whiners are such bitches it makes me sick. "apple should never lower its prices, cuz it'll make my butt hurt!" "I wanna feel super-special and have a cool new toy that'll always be expensive, cuz mommy never hugged me!" "Why can't the market stay stagnant now that I finally got involved?" "WHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

It's called buyer's remorse, Matt. You're not exactly a crusade of one, but expect your march on Cupertino to lose a lot of its sparse members along the way as they get distracted by various bright, shiny objects on the roadside.

@AlisonAshleigh: You left out "swimming in my money bin."

I'm of the opinion that Apple isn't obligated to these customers to give them anything back...the fact that they're giving them something back now means that Apple is gracious. They paid $600 for what they got, and the contract was valid and there was no deception...the fact that Apple made a business decision to turn two models into one at the lower price point is irrelevent.

I'd be happy with $100 credit for Apple Store merchandise. After all, that's $100 I didn't have a week ago.

Hey, let's start a petition or poll or something. if more than 70% of the readership views these complaints as bogus "baby wants it's bottle" whining, consumerist stops posting the drivel about it.

I mean seriously, call mommy and arrange a hug if you need one that bad. But let's keep consumerist on topic, huh? These are NOT valid consumer complaints. And I'm betting a poll would bear that out.

Boo Hoo. I am tired of the whiny bitches already. If I see anyone in real life complain about it I am going to kick them in the shins then point and laugh. Apple owes you nothing.

In your letter you said you didn't want the credit because you were not going to purchase Apple products anymore.
If you have already stated you are no longer a customer what is Jobs incentive to do anything for you?
You have given him the option of doing nothing and losing you as a customer, or spend money on you and still lose you as a customer.
Not a tough choice for him to make.

I don't think Matt will be happy until Steve Jobs personally gives him a hummer. And I'm not talking about the car.

Am I annoyed that the price went down so quickly? Somewhat.

Did Apple have to refund me money? No.

Use that credit to get an extra charger and a new case. Or get an iPod shuffle and give it to someone for Christmas. Really, it's not a big deal.

@yahonza: The way you worded it, yes. It made you seem like you were on the side of the assholes.

Apple sells overpriced crap.

In response to the announcement issued yesterday by Mr. Jobs, I would like to know how is it even reasonable to expect that pissed off customers WANT $100 towards more Apple gear?

You are a giant whiner. Seriously.

Really, do the kinda fools who pay $600 for a cell phone and then whine about a rebate on that device need a voice? The backlash continues? C'mon.

@randombob:
I second the motion for a poll.

Consumerist should have been unequivocally on Apple's side on this thing from the beginning.

They cut prices, that is good. Its the most favorable thing a company can do for consumers.

And yet, Consumerist recommended that people complain to the state of California department of Consumer Affairs for engaging in this vicious price slashing.

Judging by the comments, nearly all readers of the site see this situation as it is: some early adopters are whining and crying for no good reason.

Cutting prices is exactly the kind of behavior that the Consumerist ought to be praising not criticizing.

@y2julio: When are the people who hate Apple going to realize that they're in a distinct minority? Not everyone who buys an Apple product is a "fanboy".

What's up with the irrational Apple hate? Just buy someone else's product and move on.